


all my girls like to fight

by airnomadenthusiast



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/F, First Kiss, Mutual Pining, Past Maiko, Post-Canon, kyoshi warrior ty lee, probending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-17 08:41:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29222595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/airnomadenthusiast/pseuds/airnomadenthusiast
Summary: And damn, Ty Lee had missed this. Not that Mai had been one for open, public displays of affection when she had last seen her, but in private, she had reached for Ty Lee so often. When Azula was in one of her moods, when Zuko was too caught up in his destiny to think about her, when her parents looked at her askance for showing up to dinner with cuts and bruises all over her hands. She’d held Ty Lee’s hands and put their calluses together, and she’d let Ty Lee hold her in the dark, and she was smaller then, but it didn’t make Ty Lee like her less. If anything, she liked her more.or, Ty Lee and Mai go to a pro-bending match, and learn that they're different than they were as kids.title from Hope Tala's song of the same name
Relationships: Mai/Ty Lee (Avatar)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 32
Collections: Winter ATLA Femslash Week 2021





	all my girls like to fight

**Author's Note:**

> submission for the bending prompt for day 5 of winter atla femslash week. 
> 
> I loved probending so much when I watched Legend of Korra, and I wanted to see the characters of ATLA interacting with the sport, maybe a few years after the war, and this idea came to me. hope you enjoy. 
> 
> canon-typical violence, mentions of prison and alcohol.

Ty Lee’s eyes scanned for Mai in the crowd, and saw her waving, a big grin on her face, in one of the top rows. When the circus had used this arena, during the war, the section Mai was sitting in had been reserved for nobility, but now that the monarchy had been disassembled and everyone was governing themselves, people sat wherever they chose. But Mai was, at heart, a creature of habit. 

“It’s so nice to see you!” Mai said, pulling her into a fierce hug. “It’s been too long.” 

“It has,” Ty Lee replied. Her work with the Kyoshi Warriors took her all over the world, and whenever she did happen to be in Caldera, Mai was usually somewhere else. She was writing a book about the postwar art of the Fire Nation, and she took a lot of trips to see what people were creating with her own eyes. All told, it had been at least three years since they had last seen each other, and as the years had gone on the letters had grown scarcer and scarcer. But Ty Lee was back now, and she intended to make the most of it. The Ty Lee of seven years ago would have never dreamed that she would spend a day apart from Mai again after what they went through at the Boiling Rock, but things had changed. The Ty Lee of seven years ago was infatuated with her best friend, needed to be with her every second of every day, yet couldn’t bear to see her with Zuko. Now, she was completely over any feelings she might have had for Mai, ready to be her best friend, nothing more, nothing less. And she definitely hadn’t decided to stay in Caldera more permanently after finding out that Mai and Zuko had broken up. 

“You’re going to love this,” Mai said. “It’s called pro-bending. Basically, they have a duel, and if they step too far over the line they get pushed back to the other zone, and…” 

Ty Lee tuned out a little as she listened to Mai explain pro-bending badly. She’d seen a match or two with the Kyoshi Warriors while they were in Gaoling, and she was pretty familiar with the mechanics of it (more familiar than she would be if she tried to follow along with Mai’s explanation). But she didn’t have the heart to interrupt Mai when she was this excited. Her hands moved excitedly as she talked, and Ty Lee stared at her long fingers, calloused and scarred from years of practiced knife throwing. She’d always thought that Mai’s knife calluses and her fan and acrobatics calluses matched, and it surprised her how much she had missed seeing Mai’s hands, how badly she wanted to hold them again. 

“... but then if the Firebender uses lightning—oh! It’s starting.” The lights dimmed, and Mai grinned at her in the darkness. “You’ll get it, it’s not that hard to follow along.” 

Her hand brushed against Ty Lee’s as she shifted in her seat, and Ty Lee flushed. “Yeah,” she said in response to nothing in particular.

_ “ARE YOU READY TO RUMBLE, CALDERA CITY???”  _ The crowd went wild, but Mai screamed louder than any of them, to Ty Lee’s delight. “I’m Akira Shinobi, the announcer for this evening! First up, we have the reigning champions…  _ THE CALDERA COYOTELIZARDS!!!!”  _

Mai booed loudly, and even though Ty Lee had no clue who this team was or why Mai hated them so much, she booed right alongside her. 

“And facing them for the first time tonight, an underdog team that’s been on a bit of a winning streak…  _ THE CAPITAL CROWFROGS!!!”  _

Mai jumped out of her seat, and Ty Lee followed suit, whooping and hollering. “That’s my team!” Mai yelled. “Crush the Coyotelizards! Crush them!” 

“Yeah, crush them!” Ty Lee yelled, but as she took stock of the Coyotelizards and the Crowfrogs, she didn’t like their odds. The Coyotelizards were adorned in white and gold, and each of their team members was tall and well-built. The Crowfrogs, on the other hand, were small and slight, and while Ty Lee knew that short people could be powerful fighters, from the way the Crowfrogs’ Waterbender shrank back, she figured even they didn’t like their odds. 

“Why are we rooting for the Crowfrogs again?” Ty Lee whispered into Mai’s ear. 

“What?” Mai yelled. 

“Why are we rooting for the Crowfrogs?” Ty Lee yelled back. 

“Because you’re losers who like to lose!” a guy jeered at them from the right. “COYOTELIZARDS FOREVER!” 

Mai rolled her eyes. “Don’t listen to him.” She moved so that she was yelling at the guy. “He just likes to get his ass handed to him!” 

The guy glowered at her, and Ty Lee laughed. Matches in Gaoling got this rowdy, sure, but she would have never suspected that Mai would partake in any of this. 

“The Crowfrogs are all self-taught,” Mai said in Ty Lee’s ear. “Well, the Waterbender, Natsiq, is mostly self-taught. Katara was  _ pissed  _ when she found out that there was another Southern Waterbender who had been training herself for years, so she took her under her wing. But the Firebender’s—her name’s Amarante—her parents were too poor to afford Firebending training, and they lived in this place that was just a tinderbox waiting to explode, so she was told not to Firebend at all. And the Earthbender, Ki-yong, she was orphaned in Ba Sing Se, and taught herself Earthbending by watching other benders, and she has this  _ amazing  _ blend of styles. Aang swears she used an Airbending move in one of her last matches. Anyway, Katara, Toph, and Azula put them together and made this incredible team, and the only reason they’re struggling right now because they’re up against people who have had numerous teachers and who have been training their whole lives, like the stupid  _ Coyotelizards, WHO HAVE HAD EVERYTHING HANDED TO THEM!”  _

She said the last part loudly for the guy’s benefit. He made a face at her, and Ty Lee laughed. 

“And don’t you think,” Ty Lee said into Mai’s ear, “that’s it’s a little ironic you’re rooting for the Crowfrogs, considering how you had everything handed to you?” 

Mai threw her head back and laughed. “I think I’m making up for my past mistakes, actually. I’m on a new path.” 

Ty Lee smiled. Was it just the excitement of the match, or was Mai actually different than she remembered? The smiles, the laughter, the conspiratorial glances… she wasn’t quite the Mai Ty Lee had grown up with. There was a freedom in the way she held herself that Ty Lee was beginning to love a lot. 

The bell rang, signaling the beginning of the match. The Coyotelizards started on the offensive. Ki-yong dodged in a way that seemed pretty close to the way Aang avoided Ty Lee’s attacks when she sparred with him. Meanwhile, Amarante took the fire from her opponent and swung it back on him. And Natsiq, in a move that made Ty Lee wince, froze the Coyotelizard Waterbender’s attack.

The ref whistled. “Foul on the Crowfrogs’ Waterbender, move back one zone!” 

Mai booed, and Ty Lee laughed. “Katara didn’t teach her to do that, did she?” 

“I wouldn’t put it past her,” Mai muttered, and Ty Lee laughed again.

The match began again, this time with Natsiq one zone closer to the edge. This time, she was on the offensive, sending a stream of water towards the Coyotelizard Waterbender. He fell flat on his face, and Mai cheered. But then, the Waterbender stood again. He used his feet to make a water whip that attacked Natsiq from the side, but she stopped it in its tracks, and attacked him again. Meanwhile, Ki-yong had yet to move a single stone, dodging all of the Coyotelizard Earthbender’s attacks. His face flushed with rage, until finally, he hurled a huge rock at her. Even from where she was sitting, Ty Lee could see the smirk on Ki-yong’s face as the Coyotelizard Earthbender lost his balance. She crouched and pushed, and a small rock appeared underneath his left foot, sending him crashing towards the ground. 

Mai cheered again, and the crowd waited with bated breath as they waited to see if he would stand again. When the count reached ten, the ref whistled. “Crowfrogs, move forward one zone!” 

Ty Lee was on her feet now. “GO CROWFROGS!!”

Mai grinned at her, and she grinned back. Why had she ever left?

Maybe if she had stayed, it would have been like this always. 

Natsiq returned to the zone where she had been originally, and Amarante and Ki-yong moved into Coyotelizard territory. The auras of the Coyotelizards were getting redder by the second, as they got angrier, and, Ty Lee realized, smiling, sloppier. The Firebender in particular lacked control, and his attacks only grew less targeted the longer the match wore on. Amarante, in the meantime, only grew more controlled. Her delicate spirals of light inflicted real damage, especially as she grew more confident attacking his feet and his chest, knocking him further and further back. But then, in a fit of rage, he shot a fireball at her head. 

The ref whistled. “Crowfrog Firebender, move back one zone!” 

Ty Lee’s jaw dropped. “How can he not call that? That was a  _ head shot,  _ it’s against every rule in the book!”

“Because he’s a shit ref who can’t do anything but spew shit!” Mai yelled. 

The guy at their right scoffed. “You girls are just mad that your little girl team can’t handle themselves in a real match,” he laughed. 

“I’ll show you a real match,” Mai yelled, brandishing her knife, but Ty Lee held her back.

Amarante moved back, not showing any signs of upset at the way the ref had called that last move. She nodded at Natsiq, and when the clock started again, they both moved like Waterbenders, redirecting their opponents’ attacks. After a few moments, Amarante blasted a stream of fire at the Coyotelizard Waterbender’s waist, while Natsiq whipped a stream of water toward the Coyotelizard Firebender’s feet. Ki-yong jumped, and when her feet touched the platform again, the ground shook, knocking all three Coyotelizards towards the ground. 

The ref whistled. “Coyotelizards, move back one zone!” 

Mai jumped up and hugged Ty Lee. “We’re winning, we’re winning!” 

And damn, Ty Lee had missed this. Not that Mai had been one for open, public displays of affection when she had last seen her, but in private, she had reached for Ty Lee so often. When Azula was in one of her moods, when Zuko was too caught up in his destiny to think about her, when her parents looked at her askance for showing up to dinner with cuts and bruises all over her hands. She’d held Ty Lee’s hands and put their calluses together, and she’d let Ty Lee hold her in the dark, and she was smaller then, but it didn’t make Ty Lee like her less. If anything, she liked her more. 

The match began again, this time with Natsiq and Amarante in Coyotelizard territory, and Ki-yong pushing the Coyotelizard Earthbender to the brink. As soon as the bell rang, Ki-yong threw two quick earthen disks at either one of his shoulders, knocking him off of the platform and into the water below.

The crowd went wild, and Mai gripped Ty Lee’s hand in excitement. “And that’s one Coyotelizard down!” the announcer yelled. “Can the Coyotelizards come back from this devastating blow, or will the Crowfrogs keep up their streak of good luck?” 

_ “GOOD LUCK???”  _ Mai yelled. “This is  _ skill,  _ not luck!”

Ty Lee smiled. “What luck did they have, with a shit ref who spews shit?” 

Mai looked at her with startled eyes and blushed. “I shouldn’t have said that.” 

“Why? You were right.” She looked at the Crowfrogs. “You know, they would make good Kyoshi Warriors.” 

Mai rolled her eyes. “So what, you’re going to leave  _ and  _ take my favorite pro-bending team with you? That’s too cruel.” 

“I’m not leaving,” Ty Lee said. “Not for a while, at least. I’m thinking I might retire, actually.” 

Mai grinned. “Don’t get my hopes up.” 

And before Ty Lee could think about whatever  _ that  _ was supposed to mean—could Mai want her to stay here with her? or was she reading too much into it?—the match began again. With the Earthbender down, Ki-yong divided her attention between the Firebender and the Waterbender, striking them with the earthen disks.  _ She’s hitting pressure points,  _ Ty Lee noticed after a minute. While it wasn’t quite as effective as a good old-fashioned chi-blocking, it seriously hampered both of their abilities to push back against Amarante and Natsiq. Ty Lee found her eyes focusing on Natsiq’s fight more than anyone else. It was clear that Katara had taught her, but she had a style all her own. Her movements were solid and forceful, her attacks smart and well-placed. It seemed her strategy was to overwhelm her opponent with attacks, and it was definitely working. A push from Natsiq’s water whip sent the Coyotelizard Waterbender stumbling back into the final zone, a small space right at the edge.

The ref whistled. “Coyotelizard Waterbender, move back one zone!” 

Mai cheered, and Ty Lee looked to her right to see the guy who’d been taunting them earlier wearing a distinctly glum expression. 

The Coyotelizard Firebender flew into a rage when the match started up again, pelting the Crowfrogs with illegal fireballs that strangely enough, the ref never called out as being illegal. Ki-yong shifted her attention towards helping Amarante deal with him (since the ref certainly wasn’t) while Natsiq engaged in a battle of wits with the Coyotelizard Waterbender. She shifted her technique so that instead of using long streams of water, she threw out small disks of water, not unlike the earthen disks Ki-yong was using. One of these hit the Coyotelizard Waterbender in the gut, and he stumbled backward, off of the platform. 

“Ooohhhh, that’s gotta hurt!” the announcer yelled. “It’s just Jikai against all three Crowfrogs now. Will they finish what they started, or will Jikai lift his whole team out of the jaws of defeat?” 

“They’re going to finish what they started!” Mai yelled. 

“Yeah!” Ty Lee screamed. She hadn’t exactly been confident in the Crowfrogs’ abilities when they’d started, but now she could see that what they lacked in brawn, they made up for in brains. Now that the Coyotelizard Waterbender was down, Natsiq joined the effort to neutralize Jikai, who was absolutely enraged now. Ty Lee remembered how Azula would constantly practice her stances and make her and Mai watch, so she could be certain that there was not one hair out of place. If Ty Lee had let Azula get away with the form that Jikai was using now, Azula would have never forgiven her. 

Amarante redirected all of Jikai’s attacks away from the other Crowfrogs, while Natsiq hit him with waves of water, and Ki-yong systematically hit his pressure points with the earthen disks. In less than ten seconds, he was on the edge, but it was his shoddy stance that sent him tumbling off the railing. 

“And the Crowfrogs have won!” the announcer yelled. She was sure that he said some other things after that, but Ty Lee couldn’t hear over the sound of Mai screaming and jumping up and down in her seat. 

“We won! We won!” 

She hugged Ty Lee fiercely, and Ty Lee sighed.  _ We won.  _

_ __________________ _

Ty Lee had thought that the night would be over once the match was, but according to Mai, it was only just beginning. “You  _ have  _ to go to Kaori’s after the match,” she said, as if it should be obvious. “It’s part of the experience.”

So they trawled the streets of Caldera, on their way to Kaori’s. The sky was pitch black, but the city was lit up, bustling with activity from street performers making fire dragons, lanterns in every shop and restaurant, sellers on the street offering up fireworks and sushi and fried fish. The crackling of the fireworks and the roar of the fire dragons were so unfamiliar to Ty Lee, who had never known this city when it wasn’t steeped in war, and had certainly never been allowed to visit this part of it. The sizzling of the fish in the fryer made her mouth water, but Mai insisted they move along. “When you try Kaori’s eel noodles, it will all be worth it. I promise.” 

Finally, they made it to the restaurant, which was full to bursting with people talking about the match, some of whom Ty Lee recognized from the audience. The guy that had been sitting to their right glowered at her, and she gave him a curt nod. 

Mai muscled her way through the crowd to the counter. “Kaori, you bastard!” 

A burly man with tanned skin appeared from the back with a wide grin on his face. “Mai!” 

“Who are all of these people?” 

His face broke into a wide grin. “I know, I’m as shocked as you are. Apparently, the Coyotelizards decided to eat here after their crushing defeat, and their fans followed. Couldn’t be better for business!” 

“Wait,” Ty Lee said. “How many people does this place usually have after a match?” 

“Just Mai!” Kaori replied, still grinning. “She’s the only one who likes my noodles!” 

Ty Lee turned towards her and crossed her arms. “Is she really?” 

Mai shrugged. “The best thing after a loud pro-bending match is a lot of peace and quiet at the best… ” she paused, grimacing at Kaori, before continuing, “unknown restaurant in the city.”

“Right.” Ty Lee sighed. She should have stopped for fried fish when she had the chance.

“Two bowls of eel noodles and a  _ lot _ of sake, please,” Mai said to Kaori. 

He handed her a bottle. “Anything for my best customer!” He winked. “I promise I won’t forget about you when I become rich and famous!” 

Mai sighed and led Ty Lee to one of the seating areas and poured each of them a shot. “Okay, listen, if you doctor it up with a little soy sauce—” 

She stopped at Ty Lee’s skeptical expression. “Okay, fine, it’s not actually good, but  _ usually  _ it’s worth it for the peace and quiet. That’s why it’s my favorite place in Caldera. And I really wanted to spend some time alone with you, but I guess that’s not going to happen.” She drank the shot and whistled. “I will say, Kaori has the best sake in the city.” 

Ty Lee’s mind was  _ reeling.  _ Mai had taken her to her favorite place in all of Caldera, a place that she normally expected to be quiet, so that she could spend some time  _ alone _ with her? Was that good? Could it be?

And then, she chided herself. Just because they didn’t talk as often now didn’t mean that Mai would have suddenly forgotten how close they were as children. She probably wanted time alone so they could catch up, as best friends. That was probably why she had been excited earlier at the prospect of Ty Lee retiring from the Kyoshi Warriors. She wanted her best friend back. 

Oh no, Mai wanted her best friend back. 

Meaning that she probably wanted them to cuddle and hold hands and  _ oh Spirits she would probably want to braid Ty Lee’s hair— _

Her spiral was interrupted by the Coyotelizard Firebender—Jikai, Ty Lee remembered—standing on a table, a large bottle of sake in his hands. “Just because I lost tonight,” he slurred, “does not mean I couldn’t  _ destroy  _ any bender who came my way.”

The restaurant fell silent as Mai broke into high-pitched laughter. 

Ty Lee stared at her in horror and maybe a little bit of awe. “What are you doing?” she whispered, but Mai wouldn’t stop. 

Jikai got down from the table and stumbled towards them, barely able to walk in a straight line. “What’s so funny?” 

Mai covered her mouth with her hand. “Sorry, it’s just—” She snorted and tried to make it sound like a cough, but Ty Lee knew no one was buying it. “It was obvious to anyone watching that the only reason you lasted in that ring as long as you did was because the ref was letting you cheat.”

The crowd was circling their table, murmuring. Jikai slammed his hands on the table and got in Mai’s face. “Well, maybe pro-bending has too many rules.” 

Mai scoffed. “Even so. It’s obvious you couldn’t hold your own against any competent fighter unless you cheated.” 

“Mai!” Ty Lee kicked her under the table, but Mai paid her no mind.

“You want to test that theory?” Jikai whispered, his face inches away from Mai’s. 

“She’s not a bender,” Ty Lee said quickly. 

It didn’t seem to have any effect on Jikai. “Well, she should have thought of that before she messed with me.” 

“Actually, I did.” Quicker than Ty Lee could blink, Mai pulled a knife out from her sleeve and threw it. It whizzed just past Jikai’s ear and stuck in the wall behind him. 

“All right, that’s enough!” Kaori yelled. “Mai, we talked about this. If you’re going to throw knives, you had better do it  _ outside.”  _

“Fine by me,” Mai said with a wicked grin. “Shall we take this outside, then?” 

Jikai grimaced. “With pleasure.” 

Mai stood and started walking out of the restaurant, and Ty Lee was almost too shocked to follow her. Kaori whistled. “That’s some girl you got there. All of us should be so lucky.” 

“She’s not my—I—” 

He smiled at her. “You’re Ty Lee right?” 

Her eyes grew wide. “How did you know?” 

“She only talks about you all the time. ‘Ty Lee saved my life when we were kids’ ‘I miss braiding Ty Lee’s hair’ ‘Ty Lee said this’ ‘Ty Lee said that.’ On and on and on. It’s exhausting.” He smiled at her fondly. “You make Mai happy. And that makes you good in my book.” 

Ty Lee blinked at him. “Thank you.” 

He laughed. “Did she never tell you that?” 

Not in so many words, but maybe in the way her letters remained steady over the years, no matter where Ty Lee was, or in the way she’d hugged and hugged and hugged her like nothing had changed. 

Maybe nothing had, really. 

“I’ve got to go,” Ty Lee said, dashing out of the restaurant. “Thanks for everything!” 

“Go get her!” Kaori yelled. 

When she got outside, she pushed through the crowd to see Mai and Jikai staring at each other. Mai had her knives drawn, and Jikai held a fireball in his hand, ready to strike. 

The fight began, with Mai striking the first blow by pinning Jikai’s pants to the ground. Jikai groaned and threw a fireball her way. She dodged and hit him with another knife, this time pinning him to a wood post. The knife wobbled in the wood, and Jikai spluttered. 

“Well, that was quick,” Mai laughed, observing her handiwork. “What did I tell you? In a fair fight, you’re useless.” 

Jikai replied with a breath of fire straight toward Mai’s face. Ty Lee’s breath caught, and Mai dodged, pinning his other shoulder and his other leg down in the process. Then, she pulled ribbons out from under her sleeves, gagged him, and tied his hands behind the wooden post. 

“Fuck you,” he tried to say, but the gag was making it difficult to hear. “I want a rematch!” 

Mai laughed again, and even though Ty Lee thought that this whole thing was  _ absolutely senseless,  _ there was something so beautiful about her confidence then, lighting her up like a dragon made of pure fire. “What would be the point? I’ve already proven myself right.” 

And then, Mai, beautiful, reckless,  _ stupid  _ Mai, turned her back on him. 

The ribbons gagging him and tying him up burned into ash. Jikai spit it out and took a deep breath. 

And all at once, Ty Lee was transported, back to seven years ago, back to Mai telling Azula that she had miscalculated, that she loved Zuko more than she feared Azula. And before Ty Lee even had a chance to think about whether she loved Mai that much, her body decided for her. 

She hit Jikai’s pressure points, and he sank to the ground, catatonic. “My bending!” He turned to her. “What have you done to my bending?” 

“He can’t bend anymore?” a woman said, clutching her face. 

“Could she do that to me?” a little boy asked. 

“We shouldn’t let her do that to anyone ever again,” a guy said, pounding his fist. 

Mai looked over her shoulder. Ty Lee prided herself on her ability to read people, but Mai’s face was unreadable. “Run.” 

Ty Lee didn’t ask questions, tearing across the street as quickly as she could. And there were the Boiling Rock memories again, the consequences of what happened if you didn’t move fast enough, the days and weeks they spent in prison. Ty Lee thrown in with the Kyoshi Warriors, knowing that Mai was somewhere, and yet not being able to find her, dreaming of the day when they would both get out and Ty Lee could tell Mai exactly what she meant to her. And then finally getting out, only to realize that Mai would never love her like that, that Zuko was to Mai what Mai was to her, falling into the arms of the Kyoshi Warriors because they cared for her and they said that they needed her. Growing up, traveling the world, being as happy as a person could be, and yet there was always this underlying current, this question: what if she had run faster? 

What if she had gotten the chance to say what her body knew? 

They stopped at a clearing, near the edge of the city, panting, and to Ty Lee’s absolute horror, Mai started  _ laughing.  _

“What about this situation is funny to you?” Ty Lee yelled. “Those people are after us, and Jikai nearly killed you, and—”

The rest of Ty Lee’s sentence died in her throat, because all of a sudden, Mai was kissing her. 

Like everything else that night, it was a rush. Mai’s lips moved quickly against Ty Lee’s, and her hand came up to Ty Lee’s neck, cradling it there. Ty Lee grabbed Mai’s hand, feeling her calluses for the first time in  _ forever,  _ the little cuts and bruises and scars that they’d gotten together. Mai opened her mouth, and Ty Lee groaned, and she almost couldn’t keep herself from smiling. Mai unlaced her hand from Ty Lee’s and moved them up so that they were in Ty Lee’s hair. 

When they broke apart, Mai grinned at her. “Are you still mad at me for being reckless?” 

Ty Lee grinned back. “Yes.” 

The firelight of the city danced in Mai’s eyes. “Really?” 

“If you had died before I got the chance to kiss you, I would have never forgiven you.” 

Mai’s grin got even wider. “You knew, didn’t you?” She stroked Ty Lee’s cheek with her thumb. “You knew before I ever could.” 

Ty Lee pecked her mouth, once, twice. On the third time, Mai deepened the kiss, and Ty Lee laced her arms around Mai’s neck. “I’m not mad at you,” Ty Lee said when they broke apart. “We both needed the time to grow up. And you… you really grew.” 

“I did, didn’t I?” Mai smiled at her, putting their hands together again, running Ty Lee’s calluses over her own. “So does this mean you’ll stay?” 

Ty Lee opened her mouth to say that she was already planning on staying for a while, but what came out instead was, “I’ll stay as long as you want me.” 

“So forever?” 

“Yeah.” Ty Lee nodded. “Forever.” 

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading! if you enjoyed that, I would very much appreciate you checking out [ INCITE! ](https://incite-national.org/donate/) a feminist organization working to end state violence against women, gnc, and trans folks of color. if you want to see more of me, you can follow me @nonbinarycrafteraang on tumblr!


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